Her Way
Laure Calamy gives a fine performance as a single mother and sex worker in a French drama that loses its way.
The great virtue of Cécile Ducrocq’s first feature is to be found in the impressive performance by its lead actress, Laure Calamy. She is present in almost every scene and becomes the backbone of a work which, beginning promisingly, later falters due to the fact that its screenplay by Ducrocq herself and by Stéphane Demoustier leaves so much to be desired.
Her Way opens in Strasbourg and shows a single mother, Marie Kriegel (that’s Calamy's role), struggling to find enough money to allow her 17-year-old son, Adrien (Nissim Renard), to attend a very special school where he will be helped to fulfil his ambition to become a chef. All Marie's hopes are centred on her son achieving this, but the school is expensive and Marie cannot raise a bank loan when her only income is from prostitution. There may be a French flavour to this, but the concept of a struggling mother thwarted by bureaucracy when seeking to help her son puts one in mind of the work of Ken Loach. Here, however, Marie’s determined efforts lead to her taking on work in Germany, still as a prostitute but in an establishment where she has a better chance of earning enough to make the down-payment needed before Adrien can start his studies.
Nissim Renard gives able support as Adrien and, even though the son can be very difficult with his mother, one can accept that she would go to extremes to give him this chance in life. But, if this situation is at the centre of the film, the screenplay is guilty both of sudden sidetracks and of failing to supply details that we need to know. What could have been a case of a mother turning to prostitution specifically to help fund her son does not appear to be exactly that. What we do learn is that Marie has had an unpleasant past association with Bruno (Sam Louwyck) who runs the brothel in Germany. But we never know when and why the 35-year-old Marie chose a life of prostitution although, whatever her earlier experience with Bruno and regardless of what prostitutes might be subjected to by a client, she seems surprisingly positive about her lifestyle. At one point she joins in a street protest for legal changes to ease the lot of prostitutes, but that is never followed through and just what stance the film wants to take about the trade remains unclear.
One senses that Marie is meant to be viewed sympathetically even though there are times when she either behaves badly or expresses views about competition from black prostitutes that would seem racist (here the film certainly distances itself from her). The characterisation could be seen as a deliberate refusal to sentimentalise Marie’s plight, but it is the way in which the story develops that, despite the strong lead performance, results in the film failing to maintain its promise. Some of the scenes in Germany work well, but the plot development takes a melodramatic turn here and even puts another prostitute (Amian Larcher) in a situation that echoes Marie's own - a step that feels totally contrived. Furthermore, in terms of credibility, Adrien’s character quite lacks consistency – at one point he appears to be a drug addict but that is then ignored totally. Subsequently, following a shocked violent reaction to his mother’s lifestyle (we are asked to believe that he was unaware that his mother’s income came from prostitution rather than from home hairdressing!), he suddenly transforms. In a twinkling he is no longer a lazy, rebellious teenager but a model son. The film then opts for an out-and-out happy ending as far as he is concerned showing him working in the kitchen of a docked ship and there's even a shot of his prized cookbook to add a touch of sentimentality.
So, ultimately, what is Cécile Ducrocq seeking to do here? As a frank view of prostitution Her Way has an ‘18’ certificate, but its ending seems quite unrealistic and we never really find any clear indication of what social message Ducrocq is sending. What is certain is that Laure Calamy gives a performance that deserved a better setting.
Original title: Une femme du monde.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Laure Calamy, Nissim Renard, Maxence Tual, Béatrice Facquer, Sam Louwyck, Diana Korudzhiyska, Amian Larcher, Valentina Papic, Melisa Guers, Leonarda Guinzburg, Kim Humbrech, Sarah Ouazana.
Dir Cécile Ducrocq, Pro Stephanie Bermann and Alexis Dolguerian, Screenplay Cécile Ducrocq and Stéphane Demoustier, Ph Noé Bach, Pro Des Catherine Cosme, Ed Sophie Reine, Music Julie Roué, Costumes Ariane Daurat.
Domino Films/France 2 Cinéma/Canal+/Ciné+/France Televisions-Blue Finch Releasing.
97 mins. France. 2021. UK Rel: 26 August 2022. Cert. 18.
